Mew Generations: Hajimari
by Kireina Maboroshi
Summary: Sometimes love is a superhero's greatest weakness. Retasu x Shirogane. Pai x Zakuro. Taruto x Purin. New chapter every other day. Part 2 of a 5 Part Series. O.C. & A.U. Makes more sense if you read "Mew Generations" before "Mew Generations: Hajimari".
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Nemesis**_

A woman in an orange jumpsuit does a backflip and lands perfectly on the edge of The Hancock Building. She takes a seat and looks out onto the horizon. She sees high school students wearing white uniforms, some wearing gold emblems on their chests, others with red, scurrying around hanging flowers, arranging candles, and preparing tables.

The sight below brings a smile to her face. She squiggles as she can barely contain her joy. _Three years I've waited for this! And just a few more hours more..._ She rubs her hands together, and laughs to herself.

Inside the church, Nagia twirls in front of the full-length mirror, her long, white, Cinderella gown flowing behind her. She grins from ear to ear. _This is it! I can't believe it!_

"You look so beautiful, Miss Johnston." A young lady wearing a white school uniform and a gold blazer helps pull Nagia's veil out of her face with one hand and carries a bouquet in the other, "Or, shall I start now saying Mrs. Parker?" She giggles excitedly.

Nagia covers her mouth with her gloved hands, overwhelmed with excitement. She lets out a small squeal.

"Nagia!" Iva admonishes. "Careful of your gloves!"

Nagia removes her hands from her face, revealing smudged lipstick and red blotches on her gloves.

"Nagia!" a chorus of Ahimsa, Lindsay, and a shorter, plump woman in glasses cry as they rush toward her. Sofia snickers from her seat, wearing a beautiful, gold wedding band. Ahimsa and Lindsay set to the gloves as the woman reapplies her lipstick. Soon, they step back, admiring their work.

They hear a cellphone ring.

The plump, older woman picks it up, "Hello? … Randolph? This had better be important!...Again?... Really now... oh fine. Wait a minute." She puts a hand over the receiver. "Miss Johnston, sorry to bother you on you're big day, but one of the water-benders fell asleep again in class and broke another pipe. The entire first floor is flooded."

Nagia twirls again, determined not to let it ruin her mood, "Have all water-bending classes moved outside until further notice. Also, set up a meeting with the student and their advisor. A lot of pressure is put on these kids. We need to find out if this child is simply feeling overwhelmed."

"I understand," the woman opens the door just as Nagia's mother enters, eyes teary.

"Ichigo says..." the older woman starts on the phone as the door shuts behind her.

_Ichigo?_ Nagia's mother thinks, but soon forgets as she lays eyes on her daughter.

Nagia stares back at her mom, expecting her to cry any minute. The room stands still. All of a sudden, her mother begins bawling. "My baby's all grown up!" The two have a tender mother-daughter moment full of kisses and fussing over flowers, jewelry, makeup, and veils.

As Nagia's mother gives her daughter one more once over, they hear a knock.

"Come in," Nagia calls.

In comes Anton and Shirogane, wearing suits. Ahimsa blushes and looks down while Iva pretends not to notice how manly and dashing they've become. Anton shuts the door behind them as Shirogane walks over to Nagia. She twirls once more to show them her dress, but freezes as she catches their expressions.

Shirogane puts his arm on her shoulder. Nagia looks up at him, afraid of what he will say.

"Nagia..." he starts. He opens his mouth again, but nothing comes out.

"What?" Nagia asks, panicking. "What is it? Is Andrew okay? He's not hurt, is h-"

"He won't be here, Nagia." Anton finishes.

"What do you mean? He hasn't gotten here yet? He left?"

"No, Nagia. He will not come." Shirogane says.

Nagia pulls away from him, "But our wedding..." she looks at the pillow on the vanity bearing their wedding rings. "He'll be here... unless something's wrong. How do you know he isn't coming? Where is he? Did he tell you-"

"Ichigo, we weren't going to have a bachelor party and worry you, so we were going to meet right after his classes about two hours ago, but he didn't show. We've searched all over, thinking something had happened to him, and finally found him..." Anton's voice begins to shake in anger and sadness for Nagia. "Please don't ask anymore. Please just leave out the back. We will take care of-"

"NO!" Nagia screams, beginning to fall apart. "What is going on! Please! Tell me!" She runs to Anton, and grabs his lapel. "Is it that bad? Tell me!"

"He was... with... another woman. They were..." he looks uncomfortable.

"No. That's not true. He wouldn't. I know him. He wouldn't. Something happened." tears begin to fall from her eyes. "Not on our wedding day. He wouldn't do that." she lets go of Anton. "No. You're wrong!" she looks him straight in the eyes, but has to look away when she sees his pain.

He wraps his arms around her. "I am so sorry, Nagia... We confronted him, but..." Nagia's mother, Iva, Ahimsa, and the others rush to Nagia to comfort her. "It isn't you're fault..." No one notices as small spots on Nagia's hand turn a grayish tan.

"No..." Nagia cries. "No..."

A loud wail echoes through the sanctuary. All face the dressing room, quiet. All except one. One woman, wearing a low hat and an orange dress hides her face with a fan. Underneath that fan was a grin wider than a Cheshire cat. A laugh escapes. She stops as the congregation looks at her. She lowers her head, and pretends to cry. She slips out into the sunlight. As soon as she hears the church door close behind her, she lets out a giant laugh. _Oh Ichigo, Darling. This is only the beginning._

She snaps her fingers, and moves instantly to a dark hallway. Even as she walks on the stone floor, no sounds come from her heels. She rounds a corner, and peers into a jail cell. She leans on the bars.

Inside sits Andrew with thick, black bands on the arms, legs, and neck. In front of him lay a toppled plate, food everywhere. He turns to her, eyes betraying his intense hatred.

"Ooh... So scared..." she laughs and begins to pace back and forth. She taps on the jail bars. "Ah... it was just too easy... You're beloved Ichigo loves you so much." She snaps again and a pole appears. She slides down it like a stripper, opening her legs. "And your "technique" is so good..."

Andrew transforms into The Red Knight and walks toward the bars, livid, "That's the illusion you showed her!"

The woman snaps her fingers again, and he is pulled back forcefully against the opposite wall by the bands. He coughs as he doubles over.

"Silly, silly boy!" She snaps, and the pole disappears. "I made this dimension. You are in MY world." she sighs. "It was almost too easy..." she touches her lip sexily, then looks Andrew in the eye. "Hmm... She just absolutely loves you..." she points to him, then blows him a kiss. "...hmmm... wanna hear my plan?" She slides to the floor. "I'll tell you." she perks up. "Remember a couple years ago when Ichigo beat Kisshu? You know, that form she almost used?" she giggles. "Well, what if she were to turn completely like that?"

"No..." Andrew panics. "No! You said if I did what you asked, you'd leave her alone!"

"I lied."

"What do you want me to do? I'll do anything! Just please leave her!"

"Awww! Aren't you sweet! But..." she makes another sexy pose. "He won't praise me if I just let her go that easy..." she thinks for a second. "Ooh! I know!" She points at Andrew, pretending unsuccessfully to have just thought of something. "How about I inject little, teeny, weeny bombs that pack a mile-wide punch in your precious darling's wedding ring. Then, if you don't do exactly what I tell you to, I kill her." She claps her hands excitedly. "You see, she either turns into the monster and destroys the world or dies. And...here's the kicker... it's all up to you! Well, like it? Like it?" She gets up. "I knew you would, Darling!" She smiles, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. She takes off skipping down the hall, laugh echoing off the walls.

Andrew punches the ground. _Nagia... _


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: The Way Things Are**_

Ichigo sits in her gigantic, corner office. She signs a document. _Ah. Last one. _She rises just as the alarm goes off on her phone. She reaches down to pick it up, and the two wedding rings glisten from the chain around her neck. She grabs her purse at the same time and heads out of her office.

As she passes through the halls, interning students in white uniforms, managers, temps... everyone seems to stare at her. She forces herself to hold her head up high.

She rounds a corner and heads out the door, passing a woman in orange carrying coffee.

"Uh!... Miss Ichigo... uh..."

Ichigo turns around to see one of the interns. She wears a white uniform with a red emblem. Ichigo sighs, grateful. All students in the high school wear white uniforms, and some sort of badge, gold if they were born with or developed powers or were able to transform, and red if they had no powers, but were training to fight as well as those with powers. The most fearsome to her at this time were the few wearing blazers. This only amounted to a meer 1% of the student body, but these students were personal assistants to the Mews and Knights, and thus knew about, and were there for, the wedding. All of the students knew the much-awaited wedding between Mew Ichigo and The Red Knight didn't happen, but only the personal assistants knew why.

"Yes?" Ichigo responds. _Goodness... it's already been a month... You don't have to walk around me on eggshells!... Not like the media's been any help..._

"Um... here!" she holds out a form. "One more... would you please sign it?"

Ichigo grabs the form, signs it, and places it back in the girl's hands before heading out the door.

Once outside, she let the sun hit her face, imagining it was cleansing her from the disaster of the last month. She breathes in deeply in a futile attempt to loosen the knot that has been plaguing her chest since she heard Andrew was cheating. She hits the remote to her car and gets in, placing her purse on the passenger's seat. Since then, she hadn't been able to talk to Andrew. He appeared in school like normal, but every time she tried to speak to him, he acted like nothing was wrong. When she'd asked him questions, he didn't respond, but rather just stared at the wedding rings around her neck.

_I've gotta hear it from his mouth. I won't believe it until I hear it from him!_

Ichigo turns the ignition and hits the gas.

When she arrives as Nagia to class, she sees Andrew seated in his usual spot. Her instincts tell her to sit where she usually does, the opposite side of the room, but this time, she clenches her fists and takes a seat next to him. No sooner had she done this than he gathers his books and stands up. Desperate, Nagia grabs his arm. He turns to her, and their eyes meet.

For a moment, Nagia feels like things are back to the way they used to be, but this dream shatters as he pulls out of her grasp, almost causing her to fall.

"Don't you get it? It's over between us. Don't you ever touch me again. I don't want you." he says to her sternly as he heads to the back of the classroom.

Nagia's glance follows him, oblivious of the stares of the professor and the other students. _That's not my Andrew. What happened? Why are things like this? Andrew..._

Andrew takes a seat, trying to ignore Nagia. His heart aches. She finally turns around, and he looks at her, staring at the chain around her neck. _Take it off, Nagia. If you would only just take off the necklace..._

He leans on his hand. _I want to hold you. I love you. But she'll kill us if I tell you. Nagia, please just take off the necklace... give up on me... For your own good, give up on me..._

The professor begins to speak, "Now turn to page 89 in your text-"

A whimper echoes through the classroom from Nagia's direction. He watches her as she rises from her seat and darts out the door. Andrew starts to get up, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. He forces himself to sit in his seat, heart breaking as he hears Nagia's cries resound down the hallway until the door shuts behind her. He feels the hot glares of everyone in the classroom.

Nagia runs through the hall, down the stairs, and out the building. Laden with books, she sprints past onlookers. She doesn't even notice when she passes Ahimsa, who was walking with two friends to the cafeteria.

Without explanation, Ahimsa breaks away from her friends into a sprint, following Nagia into the music building. Sounds of Beethoven fill the place, but Nagia is no where to be found. Ahimsa sets to searching the building.

Meanwhile, Nagia sits curled in a ball in the dark in one of the piano practice rooms. For the first time since her wedding day, Nagia lets herself cry. The only reason she'd held on so long was because she'd never heard anything directly from Andrew. She clutches the rings around her neck, pulling the chord so hard it digs into her skin.

Ahimsa enters the room and pries Nagia's fingers off of the necklace. Nagia sits there with no will to move. Ahimsa wraps her arms around her tenderly, tears falling from her eyes too.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Signal A New Beginning**_

(Author Note: If you'd like to, please listen to "Itoshisa to Nokumori" by Masanori Takumi [It's on YouTube] while reading this slowly.)

The noon sun shines gently on Lindsay's sleeping face. Taruto sits on the end of her bed, watching her as she takes each breath. He lightly touches the tips of her soft, Asian hair. He smiles, unable to truly believe he was spending his days with such a perfect girl.

He leans over to kiss her cheek. His hair tickles her, and she opens her eyes just as his lips touch her. She looks up at him and smiles gently. The two stare at one another face to face for a while before Taruto leans in to kiss her again.

"Good morning, Lindsay," he whispers into her ear. "I made you breakfast."

She sits up. "You did? Really?" she sniffs the air. "No smoke!"

He moves to the dresser and picks up a tray containing cereal, eggs, toast, and orange juice. He sits it gently on her lap and takes a seat.

Lindsay pokes at the egg, half expecting something to pop out of it. She turns it over and finds the bottom burnt to a dark crisp. She giggles. Taruto blushes.

"Thank you." she takes a bite of the egg, grimaces, and takes a sip of the orange juice. "What's the occasion?" she asks as she lifts a piece of toast. Almost immediately, she drops it. She picks it up again and looks underneath. Lying there was a ring with a single diamond. She looks at Taruto, who has already moved to kneel on one knee. Lindsay cups her hand over her mouth, smiling from ear to ear.

"These last three years have been amazing with you. I never thought I'd find someone who loves everything I do and can joke around and who I love... and who is also my best friend." He takes the ring in one hand and grabs her hand with the other. "Lindsay, now that we are both 18...would you marry me?"

"Yes! Yes! Definitely, definitely yes!"

Sofia sits up and lets her legs dangle out of the bed, wrapping herself with a sheet. Pai wraps his arms around her shoulders, watching her as she opens a box and pulls out a pill. He sighs as she puts it in her mouth and takes a swig of water.

"Do you really have to take those?"

"You don't want me to get pregnant, do you?"

"Yes, actually, I do..."

She whirls around to face him.

He lies back down on the bed. "I hope those pills don't work..." he murmers.

"Why would you say that! No one even knows about-" She watches him and sighs. "Daniel..." She leans over to kiss him on the cheek. He doesn't move. She stares at him for a few seconds, thinking. "You really want a kid that much?"

He sighs, then turns to her and leans up to kiss her lips. "It's okay. We're still young. There's plenty of time." He forces a smile.

Sofia stares in his eyes, "You really want a baby, don't you?" She lies down next to him, watching his pained expression. They'd already been married three years, but they were still both 23. Sofia wanted to concentrate on her career, but she had also seen Pai's joy as they interacted with children as Knight and Mew. They stay in silence.

Sofia grabs his hand, "Boy or girl?" she asks, trying to make herself contemplating it.

He doesn't even have to think, "A girl. A cute little girl who looks just like you when you were little," he pauses. "Or a boy would be nice. He could attend our school."

Sofia forces herself to smile. "That might be nice."

He turns to her, "You're considering it?" He notices her slight grimmace.

"I'm considering it," she imagines herself pregnant and shudders.

"What was that?"

"A chill..."

He lets go of her hand and touches her stomach. "I think you'd be beautiful pregnant."

"I swear you are the weirdest man alive. I'd look terrible!"

He turns to face her. "You'd be beautiful because you'd be carrying our baby."

She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him, slightly touched. "Okay... I'll stop taking the pills..." she whispers as she ruffles his hair. "But you are changing diapers."

He wraps his arm around her waist and kisses her back. "Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: Finally Together**_

"YA!" Ichigo throws a punch and lands it directly in the center of The Green Knight's chest, knocking out his breath. He falls backward against Retasu.

"Wow." he coughs, "That was quite a punch."

Ichigo wipes the sweat from her brow. "We're weak on defense, people! If we don't shape up, who will keep the students in line? Who will protect the nation? Remember. We're expanding. I want 5 more schools up and running by the end of next year," she begins to pace, "New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, and Las Vegas." She stops and stares at each of the other 4 Mews and 4 Knights, most leaning against walls or clutching various body parts. "We spar again! Indigo Knight!"

"Yes!"

"You're my opponent."

He steps forward, still sore from the last time he fought her.

"Everyone else, pick an opponent." Ichigo calls out.

Purin moves over to Minto, "Be my partner?"

"Sure."

They walk toward the other side of their custom gym to find a place to practice.

Purin starts, "Has Ichigo cracked?"

"Not yet, but I think she's close... she's been working so hard since the wedding. It's like she's running from herself or something." Minto responds, careful to keep her voice low.

The two find a spot and begin to spar.

"Whatever it is, these 4-hour practices have got to stop!" Purin wails.

After practice, Ahimsa walks toward her room in the Mew Mansion on jiggly legs. She looks up at the great staircase, and slowly begins her ascent. Finally, she lets herself drop and crawls up the stairs, breathing heavily at the top. She finds Shirogane lying there, too tired to move.

He turns to her and holds out his hand, smiling. "You did well today," he starts.

Ahimsa smiles back and takes his hand, "So did you. How's your chest?"

He groans and rests his other hand on it, "That girl's a madwoman I tell ya!"

They hear footsteps on the stairs as Nagia reaches the top and walks past them, "A madwoman you say. Heh. You won't be saying that once you see what I have planned for tomorrow." She enters her room at the end of the hall, followed by the sound of a shutting door.

They look at each other silently.

"I feel like crap." Shirogane starts.

"Me too."

Shirogane forces himself to get up, and Ahimsa does the same. They stagger together to Ahimsa's room like two drunk people. They reach her bed, plop down on it, and immediately fall asleep.

Iva packs up the last of her things and heads for the door.

"Iva! Wait up!" Anton calls, stopping her at the door, one hand on the handle.

She looks up at him, "Yep?"

"Want to have dinner tonight?"

"No thank you." she pulls the handle, but he shuts it and steps between her and the exit.

"Ever since that night 3 years ago, you've been avoiding me. We connected! Can't we see if this is going to go somewhere?"

"It is. We'll be married once I turn 20."

"Is that what this is about? Our marriage as a merger?"

She turns to him, indignant. "It's one thing when I choose the man I want to be with myself and a completely different story when that man is chosen for me as a business deal!" She tries to push him out the way, but he won't budge.

"Do you have any feelings for me?"

"I don't know. Now, would you please let me through?"

He leans in close to her until they stare at one another face to face. Iva blushes and looks away.

"See?" he smiles.

"It's just because you were too close!" Iva counters.

He touches her cheek and she pushes him away. "Iva, you're blushing. And your face is hot."

She sighs and faces him in the eye.

He stares right back at her. "Regardless of our business deal, I'm smitten with your cold-exterior, warm-interior self. I like you, Iva. And I want to date you because you're you."

"I won't have dinner with you tonight," she gives him one final push with all of her might, and he unbars the door. She opens it and walks through. "But I will have dinner with you tomorrow night." It shuts behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5: Behind the Scenes**_

The woman in orange rounds the corner and enters a dark, damp alley. Halfway through is a single dimly-lit door. She knocks on it twice.

After a few moments, it opens to reveal a smoke-ridden gambling hall, overflowing with the scum of the earth. In the back in the center, standing out because of his white suit, sits a young man in white with brilliant red hair holding a cigarette and surrounded by women in leather leotards with various animal tails and ears. One of the cat girls seemed to be grooming his face.

The orange woman scowls at the feline woman and walks in front of the man. She then bows.

He makes a motion toward her, and she rises.

"What have you come to show me today, Escor?" he holds out his hand to her, and she takes it gingerly. He motions her to come closer. She puts her other hand on the face of the grooming cat girl and pushes her out the way, planting herself between them and leaning on his chest. She looks longingly into his eyes as her own scorpion tail emerges and sways.

"My plan against Ichigo has begun," she starts. "I have The Red Knight in my dimension, and Mew Ichigo is self-destructing without him."

He grabs her cheeks tightly, blowing a ring of smoke in her face. She coughs violently. "Escor, my poisonous flower. Whether Ichigo self-destructs means nothing to me. What I want to see is this form you are so sure of. I want to see that self-righteous b- destroy every single thing she and her Mews and Knights have worked for."

"Trust me!" she coughs again, "I have a plan. In a years time, you will rule this planet without a shadow of a doubt."

He lets her go as she collapses to the ground, gasping.

"And," she starts, hesitantly, "If I accomplish this, will you make me your queen?"

"Of course, darling. Of course." he smiles. He grabs her face and pulls her up, french kissing her roughly as she gasps for air. He drops her again before motioning for her to leave.

Bright red and smiling, she bows and scurries away, even more determined to complete her task. After she leaves, the room erupts in laughter.

"Queen?" the bartender calls out, "Our lord taking a bug as his queen?" they all laugh even harder.

Nagia lay awake in her room in the Mew Mansion, listening to the sounds of the night. They had picked a non-residential area about 60 minutes from Chicago proper, so only nature could be heard at night. She turns over, trying not to imagine Andrew lying there next to her. She clutches her heart, hitting the necklace.

So many people had yelled at her when they saw the rings around her neck, but she didn't want to take them off. Whether because she had transformed with him in their Angelic forms or because of her own wishes, she still wanted to believe he loved her. So, she bought longer chain, and underneath her clothes each day, she hid the necklace, hoping one day he'd explain to her and she'd show him how she'd never given up on him.

_Who's his girlfriend? When did they meet? Andrew, I know you loved me at least for a while... Did it fade? _A tear escapes her eye.

_I'm being so stupid!_ She yells at herself, wanting to give him up. She removes the necklace and rests it on her night stand.

She listens to the sound of the crickets and the owls in the dark.

Nagia forces her mind to go through her schedule for the next day. In essence, she lived two lives at once. In one life, she was a typical student working on her business degree, and in the other, she was a multi-billionaire model and business mogul, the leader of the most elite defense team in the United States of America, and the founder of one of the most exclusive schools in the world.

She rolls over again. _I don't have time to be depressed over Andrew! Everyone is counting on me to shape up!_ She crunches up into a ball and prepares to sleep.

_Andrew, I still love you._

Ahimsa awakens to the smell of morning breath on her face. She opens her eyes only to come face to face with the sleeping Shirogane. She moves backwards and yelps as she falls out of the bed to the floor. She checks her clothes, and finds all of them still in place.

"Did you think I did something to you?" Shirogane asks, watching her as he rubs his left eye. He yawns before getting up and offering her some help to her feet.

Ahimsa stands and thanks him.

"You snore," he says nonchalantly.

She lights up bright red. "I-I-I... it was j-just because I-" she looks down and blushes brighter.

Shirogane watches her and laughs. "It's cute. Let's go get some breakfast."

She nods.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6: Playin' with the Big Boys Now Part I**_

"We've got you surrounded!" Ichigo yells, eyes gleaming, "Give it up!"

A man in a blue shirt with a long black cape and white pants checks out his surroundings. In his hands are two long chain whips, flickering with energy. He takes a deep breath, then rips the ice shard out of his side.

Retasu gasps.

"Are you stupid!" Minto calls out, "You could bleed to death! Come on! You've lost!"

BOOM! 

The Mews turn to see smoke come out of the supermarket down the street. Alarms go off as people escape screaming.

The man smirks.

"Purple Team, go check it out!" Ichigo calls. _He must be doing it... but... how..._She looks at his hands. _Wait... maybe..._

"Roger!" Pai responds as he heads that way, Zakuro in tow.

BOOM!

Another bomb goes off a bit farther down the street. This time, it's a jewelers.

"We'll take this one, Ichigo!" Purin calls out.

"Counting on you." Ichigo responds.

"Let's go, Taruto!" Purin motions, and Taruto follows.

Ichigo watches the man laughing. Her eyes zero in to his hand. _Wait for it..._ She thinks. _There!_ She sees a gleam and races toward it at top speed.

The man's eyes open wide, completely startled as he feels the impact. He feels his remote slip through his hands as he falls hard to the ground. Ichigo stands over him, almost mocking him with her gaze. He becomes filled with fury and twists, tripping her. He moves quickly and wrestles the remove from her grasp.

The blue and green teams rush to help, but hear two more explosions a couple of streets over.

"GO!" Ichigo yells at them.

Conflicted, they oblige to check them out.

Meanwhile, Zakuro and Pai cough as they struggle to enter the supermarket against the masses. Finally, they decide to enter through the roof.

"Zakuro SPEAR!" Zakuro calls as a hole opens.

They leap inside and rush to the location of the explosion to help the wounded. Finally, they see a crater in the center of the meat department. Around the hole lay about 20 bodies of all ages, most of them still. Zakuro starts to approach a young boy lying about 10 feet in front of her, but is forcefully pulled back by Pai.

She falls into him, and looks up at him.

"Look!" he whispers as he faces her head in another direction.

She gasps. Only 5 feet or so to the opposite side of the crater stood a naked make figure. He had red, glowing eyes and markings all over his body to match. The rest of his body was the darkest black either of them had ever seen. In his left hand was the lower half of a body, and in his right was an arm. He lifts the arm and takes a bite. The sound of each crunch began to feel the room.

Zakuro begins to shake, "Cannibal! Cannibal!" she whispers again and again in disbelief.

Pai wraps his arms around her, and she stops shaking. "We have to stop him, Zakuro." He kisses her head. "I need you."

She stops shaking and pulls away. She grabs Pai by the collar and kisses him, filled with a righteous anger.

Pai and Zakuro, both in their angelic forms, race toward the monster, hand in hand. With every step they took, they felt the calls of those who lay there wounded.

_Wait just a moment longer. We'll save you. _They think in unison.

A simultaneous blast of light comes out of each of their hands. As it approaches the monster, it illuminates its shadow on the back wall. The shadow screeches, then takes a shape like the skeleton of a dragon, a thick black goo dripping from its teeth.

The beast turns to them just as the light hits him and throws him against the wall. A piece of the ceiling falls and gives him as second impact.

Pai and Zakuro land before him, ready to shoot another round if needed. For a while, nothing happens. But, Just as the couple decide to lower their guard, they hear the rumbling of the rubble. The upper half of a woman's body minus the right arm comes flying at them, fear still etched in her face.

Pai easily jumps out the way, expecting Zakuro to do the same. He turns around to see her still in the line of fire.

Zakuro screams, frozen at the sight.

Pai leaps toward her, but she takes the impact. The body lands on top of her, face to face. She struggles, trying to get it off her as the blood stains her hands, dress, and hair. Pai jerks the body off of her and pulls the wailing Zakuro to her feet. She grasps onto his clothes so tightly it draws blood and stains his shirt. He embraces her, wishing he could take away that sight.

The pieces of the ceiling begin to fall off of the monster.

A piece of Zakuro's angelic hair lands on her shoulder, and she sees the blood. She pulls away from Pai and struggles to get it out with her hands, getting even more blood in her hair from her hands.

The monster forces his hand with the bottom half of the woman's body through and pushes away the last remaining debris.

Zakuro feels something akin to going in and out of consciousness. Her heart beats rapidly, and she can't seem to catch her breath. She moves backwards, faster and faster until she hits one of the shelves.

The monster stands up and takes a step toward them.

Pai approaches his wife.

She looks in his face, but sees the woman's instead. That bloody, lifeless face. Forever-etched with fear. Zakuro turns to run, but sees the same face on every other person lying on the ground.

The monster walks closer and closer.

Zakuro turns around again. She falls backward to the ground, eyes wide and shaking violently. _She's... she's next to me! She's everywhere! She's- She's-"_

The monster stands in front of Zakuro and Pai, arm raised to strike.

Pai tries to grab Zakuro, but she fights him, screaming, "GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The monster's mighty arm comes crashing down toward them.

Pai gains a hold on Zakuro and pushes her as hard as he can, getting her out the way. He smiles gently at her as he takes the impact of the beast.

The crack of his body echoes through Zakuro's ears as she awakens from her terror.

Zakuro embraces Pai, tears falling on his face. She pushes tries to rouse him. "Daniel? Daniel? DANIEL!"

The monster prepares to strike again.

Elsewhere, a completely different battle was taking place.

Once everyone had left the little jewelry store on the corner, Taruto and Purin headed inside. Other than smoke, the place looked fine. Purin takes a peek inside at some of their Black Hills gold.

"Come on!" Taruto calls, pretending to be annoyed to hide his fear.

Purin grabs his arm, and they approach the wooden door to the back room. Both see smoke emerging from the crack beneath.

Purin opens the door while Taruto steps in first. The room was pitch dark from the concentrated smoke. They cough a couple times before grabbing a couple clean polishing rags and some duct tape to turn into masks.

Purin creates electric orbs in each hand as light, and they reenter. As soon as Purin steps in, she yelps.

She shines the light on her feet.

"What is it?" Taruto whispers.

She lifts her feet and finds a black, tar-like goo sticking to her left boot. "Eww..." she remarks as Taruto rolls his eyes and continues deeper in.

It seemed the storage space was deeper than it appeared from the outside. They pass several shelving units, full of jewelry just like what they had seen outside. All of them were wrapped in plastic, and most of them had price stickers. Far to the right, they could see a little desk with a lamp and an array of tools.

Squish...tap...squish...tap...squish

Taruto's brows begin to furl.

Squish...tap...squish...tap...squish

He whirls around. "ACK! I can't take it anymore!" he kneels down and Purin brings an orb close to her foot. The black spot was now covering her entire boot. She screams, and Taruto covers her mouth. "Shhhh!" he warns, and looks around.

"Mss kommmmd"

"Huh?" Taruto removes his hand.

"It's cold!" Purin complains.

They both look down again and see the sludge is now up to her knees and climbing. They both quickly set to getting it off, but the more they struggle, the more it seems to rise higher and higher. Soon, it was up to her waist.

Purin begins to softly cry.

"We'll get it off! Promise!" Taruto says, not sure himself. He looks at his hands. Several bits of tar were sticking to them. He tries to pry them off, but the pieces begin to take over his hands.

"Purin! Try a pulse of electricity!"

She does, but to no avail.

Within minutes, both were lying on the ground completely covered to their necks, sludge moving higher every second.

"Taruto!" Purin wails.

"Purin!"

"I want you to know I love you. I love you so much, and I would never have traded any of the time I spent with you."

The sludge begins to cover chins.

"And I love you too."

They squiggle closer to one another.

"Taruto," Purin asks slowly, eyes dripping tears. "I know we can't make it official, but would you marry me right now?"

"Yes," Taruto responds, eyes also tearing.

"Frederick Daron, would you take me, Lindsay Nakamura, to be your lawfully-wedded wife?"

"I do."

They feel the sludge start to engulf their mouths.

"And Lindsay Nakamura, would you take me, Frederick Daron, to be your lawfully-wedded husband?"

"I d-." Lindsay looks at him, her eyes longing to finish her promise.

He looks back at her and nods, assuring her. He wanted nothing more to caress her, and tell her it was all going to be okay.

_I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Daron. You may kiss the bride._

They lie there facing one another as the darkness begins to engulf their nostrils, every second finding it harder and harder to breathe.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7: Playin' with the Big Boys Now II**_

The green and blue teams round the corner to find smoke coming from a haunted mansion on one side of the street and a CTA station on the other.

"We've got the station," Shirogane calls. He grabs Retasu's hand as they run inside.

Minto nods and covers her face as she enters the Haunted House.

Anton and Minto enter the building to find themselves surrounded by the typical Frankenstein, ghouls, and whatnot. Plastic spider hung from the wall in cheaply spun webs, and the canned cackling of a witch filled the air every 15 seconds, right on cue. It seemed everyone had already cleared out.

Minto skillfully hops the dividers and approaches the inner entrance to the exhibits. With every step toward that dividing curtain, her left hand begins to shake more and more. Finally, she grabs it forcefully. She whirls around, "Anto-" she jumps back.

"What?" He asks, calmly standing only a foot behind her.

Minto places a hand on the curtain. "Nothing." she pouts. With a deep breath, she pulls it back, and they enter the darkness.

Inside, they find that the haunted house is actually a ride. They look ahead as far as they can, but can only see a few meters. For as far as they can see, it does not appear to have any dips.

Up above, they could see the smoke seeping toward them along the ceiling from the direction of the ride, but they couldn't see the source.

Minto gulps, and forces herself to appear confident as she steps inside. She takes a seat and fastens her belt.

"I don't know if this is such-,"

"Come on!" Minto admonishes.

Anton sighs and pulls the lever. The car begins to move along the track, but Anton easily catches up to it, leaping into the seat in front of her and fastening his seatbelt.

For the first few seconds of their ride, all seems relatively calm. The monsters were cheap and the scares predictable. Even Minto found it possible to relax.

"Look!" Minto points.

Anton turns and searches, but sees nothing. He looks back at her. "What is it?"

"I..." she lowers her hand. "That werewolf... It looked..."

Anton chuckles and looks toward the ceiling. "Let's just make sure we're still going toward the source of this smoke."

Minto blushes, embarrassed. Minto glances back at the spot, and sees red eyes staring at her. She sits up in her seat and turns to Anton, who is still watching the smoke.

"Anton..." she starts.

He looks where she had pointed before, but their car had already passed the spot. He turns to her, but she had already turned away, pouting.

"I'm sorry I di-"

"It's okay." she quips, not upset at him, particularly. Her mind returns to those eyes. She replays the scene in her head. _I know I saw it breathing..._ She shivers.

All at once, the car jerks forward, increasing in speed. Both hold onto the sides as it goes faster and faster.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" Anton quips.

"Shove it!" Minto responds panicking as she checks her seatbelt and finds it broken. She looks at the track before them and notices the near vertical drop ahead.

"Grab me!" Anton calls, holding out his hands.

Minto leaps into Anton's arms, holding tightly and burying her face in his chest just as the car turns the vertical corner and begins its decent. Faster and faster they went as though they were just left to gravity.

Seconds passed as they continued to speed up. Minto began to feel her body rise away from the coaster car. Anton wraps his legs tightly around her as she digs her arms into his back. Anton sneaks a peek downward, but cannot see anything past the darkness. He looks right in front of there car, and notices the track appearing.

His heart jumps with the realization that someone was making this track as they rode it. He looks around and sees a pair of red, glowing eyes. The being seemed to be directing the track like an orchestra, sadistically enjoying the reactions of the riders.

Anton looks sorrowfully at his crush as she lay plastered against him, tears flowing as she let out small whimpers. He moves one of his hands up to her head, and clutches her tightly. He kisses her forehead, but she doesn't respond.

The Indigo Knight looks over at the figure, livid.

The expression seems to stop the beast, but for only a second. It takes a few steps and stops in front of an exit sign, as if it wanted the light to illuminate it.

Anton's eyes opened wide as he realized what he was looking at. The conductor was like a warewolf with whispy, smoky fur that flowed off his shoulders and up to the ceiling. He could only see the beast's outline, but he knew it was laughing at him. The monster rose his baton.

Anton wraps his body tightly around Minto as they reach the end of their decent and find themselves upside down in a loop de loop. Minto screams as again and again they are taken through corkscrews, loop de loops, sharp turns, long drops, succumbing to the instantaneous whim of this monster.

The Indigo Knight grits his teeth. "Minto!" he calls.

"Yes!" she yells through his shirt.

"Look at me!"

"I can't!" she whimpers. He grabs her cheeks and pulls her face toward him. She tries to pull her head down as they enter another loop.

CRACK

They look down and see Anton's belt beginning to come loose. Minto panics and tries to bury herself in Anton's shirt again.

"IVA!" he yells, more desperate than angry.

She faces him, trembling. Behind him, she could see the end of the track for the first time and begins to panic again. He tightens his grasp around her face.

"Listen to me!"

She watches him with tear-filled eyes.

"Are you listening?"

She nods quickly.

"We have to transform. We have to access our angelic forms. Do you understand?"

She nods again, but becomes distracted by the constantly appearing parts of the track.

"Minto! Please! I need you to focus!"

She looks in his eyes again and sees his fear. He moves his face toward her and their lips touch as they transform into their angelic forms.

At that instant, the beast lets out a roar and lowers his wand, causing the track to stop growing. The cart soars off as The Indigo Knight and Minto try to fly away.

Up above, they hear a creaking. Both look up just in time to see several thousand pieces of track that had been swirled into spears racing toward them. They look at the ground far below and find it is full of spikes. They look all around them, but they are too far from any shelter. They swerve and head downward at full speed, barely staying ahead of the track. To the side, they hear the animal-like laughter of the monster. Getting closer every second were the spikes down below. They grasp each others hands tightly as they soar toward their death.

On the other side of the street, The Green Knight and Retasu entered the CTA station amidst all the smoke. Immediately, they saw it was coming from the Blue Line subway.

Shirogane races down first, leaping over the escalator, Retasu in tow. Down four flights they go. Finally, they reach the bottom. They walk out onto an empty platform, the train going to Rosemont on their right and heading back to the center of downtown on their left. The click clack of Retasu's boots fill the tunnel.

They hear a deep breathing, almost like a gasp filling in the space between the taps.

Retasu grabs the corner of Shirogane's shirt as she follows him.

Several large pillars span the center of the subway, dividing those waiting for each direction. The Green Knight walks past the first one, Retasu close behind.

SQUISH

The Green Mew shrieks and jumps forward, bumping into Ryou.

"It's oka-" he starts to say until he sees the black liquid she stepped on swivel underneath the corpse of a homeless man that appeared to have lost almost his entire chest in one large bite.

The gasping gets louder.

Ryou grabs Retasu's hand and starts to lead her back up the stairs they came from, but he stops. _The breathing's coming from this way!_

He turns around and begins to push her back.

"What's wrong?"

He grabs her hand and pulls her away from the stairs just as the pillar comes crashing down in a thousand pieces. "RUN!"

A tar-black creature that looked like a cross between a fish and a walrus came baring toward them, gasping with every leap. It's red eye faced them while the pale pink one that skewered with a wooden pole faced the ceiling, spilling green pus.

"Look! There!" Retasu calls as she points to another staircase about a hundred feet away.

Shirogane tightens his grip around her hand and runs faster.

"AH!" Retasu falls to the ground, and looks at her boot. Next to it was a head attached to half a neck. She feels herself start to hyperventilate as Ryou drags her by her arms.

"COME ON!" he yells at her as the phantasm gets closer.

She rises to her feet as they continue on.

At the staircase, The Green Knight pushes Retasu in front of him. "GO!"

She doesn't ask questions. She starts up the stairs as Ryou follows backwards behind her, sabres in hand.

Just as she reaches the top of the first flight, she freezes. Flowing from the top floor, she sees a sea of water bearing down for her. She steps back a few steps in disbelief, then heads back down, almost bumping into Ryou.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE! GO!"

"We can't!" her voice starts go get drowned out by the rushing rapids. They stand on the staircase, water flowing past their feet, monster before them.

Retasu raises her arms, trying to use her powers to push away the water, but to no avail. The water keeps flowing down around her feet. She looks up, watching it flow down like a drain.

The monster approaches, obviously grinning. The Green Knight holds out his sabres against it. _I am not going down without a fight._

A flash of light catches Retasu's eyes. She looks to the side to see sparks. _Oh s-._

Escor sits perched in a giant Doughnut atop a local sweets shop. She watches Ichigo, barely able to contain her excitement.

Ichigo's punch connects with the man and he reels back. She rises above him and grounds the remote into the pavement. Fire soars around her, portraying her intense rage. She grabs him by the collar and begins hitting him repeatedly. The man struggles to escape her grasp, but to no avail.

Ichigo lets him go, and he falls to the ground. She gives him several powerful kicks. She lets fire encircle him, and slowly move closer to his body, eyes gleaming in delight.

_I am not weak! _She remembers all the other Mews and their partners. _I can do this without him! I am str-_

She catches her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were no longer pink, but a bloody red. The fire swirling around made it look like a scene from hell.

_I'm a... demon..._

She looks at the man as he tries to pull his tattered body to its feet. The bones in his wrist were clearly broken and his face was deeply bruised.

She cups her hand over her face and lets the fire disappear.

Escor laughs loudly, and Ichigo faces her, mortified.

Escor descends in front of Ichigo, but says nothing.

"Es...cor..." the man calls out to his master. He reaches out his hand to her boot with his broken wrist, and she steps on it, grinding it with the same expression Ichigo had as she ground the remote.

Escor laughs again.

Tears well up in Ichigo's eyes as she realizes what she has become. She steps back, fearing the mirror in this woman.

Escor pulls out a miniature monitor with four video feeds. She hands it to Ichigo and moves to stand over the man. _Oh how beautiful you are without your precious other half, Ichigo._

Ichigo looks at the monitor. Fear grips her heart as she sees Zakuro and Pai at the mercy of a monster, Taruto and Purin as struggling human cocoons, Minto and Anton speeding to their death, and Retasu and Shirogane about to drown.

BANG

A gunshot rings out, and Ichigo turns just in time to see Escor take off into the sky laughing. _How's that, Ichigo? _She sits on the edge of the building to watch the show. _Now what will you do, Ichigo?_

Ichigo looks over at the man. He no longer moved. But Ichigo couldn't care. Her heart could no longer take it. Andrew, the peril of her friends, her newly evil demeanor, the death of this man...

Something in Ichigo had cracked.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8: Playin' with the Big Boys Now Part III**_

Ichigo's face was blank as she rushed to her friends' aid.

Her brain moved at a rapid speed as she calculated the locations of her friends, the types of peril they were in, and the amount of the time average person in their situations would likely survive.

_Failure is not an option._

Up above, Escor watched Ichigo until she was out of range, then stayed around until the police and ambulances came to document the crime scene and take the body of her henchman away.

Once she'd had enough of that, she set off to see what Ichigo was doing.

Ichigo was already on the next street over, aiming to save Minto. _I need you're ice..._ She thinks.

She swiftly enters the haunted house through the back. As soon as she opened the door, she heard the laughter of the werewolf echoing through the hall. She swiftly takes off toward the noise and finds him inching the sharpened track closer and closer to Minto and The Indigo Knight, sadistically reveling in their fear. Anton had wrapped his body around Minto, so she was barely visible, trying to lessen the immanent blow while balancing on one of the spikes.

Anger boils up in Ichigo, and she slinks behind him as quietly as a cat. In a split second, one hand grasped the hair on its head, and the other held a fireball centimeters from its neck.

"Let them go. Now."

The beast calls her bluff, "What are you going to do? You can't kill me-"

She tightens her grip and moves the fire slightly closer, letting him feel the intense heat. "You don't seem to realize the position you're in. It's my friends or you. Which do you think I will choose?"

He looks to the side and catches a glimpse of her blazing eyes. Fear pierces his heart as he realizes her change. He drops the baton, and she reaches to grab it. Seeing his chance, he tries to attack her, but without batting an eye, she shoots a blast of fire and knocks him off the cliff toward the spikes below. His eyes widen as he catches her steel-cold eyes and realizes his fatal mistake.

Ichigo looks at her friends, and her gaze slightly softens at the sight of Anton trying to protect Minto. Her heart aches as she longs for her own Knight, but she tries to ignore it.

She calls out, "Get up! NOW! Anton! Go across the street and save Retasu and Shirogane! Minto, you're with me!"

Anton looks behind him and sees Ichigo standing where the werewolf was, confused, but he pulls himself and Minto up, and they fly to the top to join Ichigo.

"Come!" She says as they follow her to the exit.

Without a word, Ichigo leaps above the haunted house toward the jewelry store. Minto follows flying while Anton heads to the subway.

As soon as he entered, he noticed a mass amount of miniature tar-colored fish-like creatures in a circle surrounding the subway entrance. In between them fell a thick pillar of water.

He hears a scream below.

_Retasu!_

He moves back into his Knight form and holds his shuriken in hand, posed to fight. The monsters turn to him, and three leave the circle.

They jump at him, but are no match. With three small, precise movements, he defeats them all. The others begin to hiss and leave the pillar and move toward one another.

Seeing where this was going, Anton threw a series of shuriken, destroying four of the beasts, but the others combine, creating a larger version that towered over him.

He glances at the pillar. _Hmm..._ _I wonder..._ He moves away from it, running at full speed through the people counter. It smashes through the metal, determined to tear him apart. It opens its mouth, spewing blasts of water, but Anton easily avoids the blasts. _Thank you Ichigo for 4 hours of hell..._ He thinks as he remembers their training.

He takes the monster all around the area until he was between it and the pillar. With all his strength, he threw ten shiriken at different places all over it. Almost immediately, the water stops flowing. The monster shrieks with anger and charges toward him. He turns to run down the escalator to the subway, but instead comes face to face with Retasu and Ryou in their angelic forms. Behind them was an even larger and more hideous version of the monster he was facing.

"GO UP!" Shirogane yells as he clutches his bleeding arm and limps. Retasu helps as they climb the final steps.

The Blue Knight looks behind him at the charging beast. "Not sure up is the best-"

The smaller monster rages toward them, only 30 feet away.

Shirogane pushes past him and sees the new beast. "Oh s-t s-t s-t!" He yells. They were trapped between two of them.

"The light blasts don't work!" Retasu says. "I don't know how we can beat them!"

"For starters, let's get out of here!" Shirogane responds.

Anton lifts Shirogane's other arm and places it on his shoulder.

Both monsters are only about 10 feet away.

Anton turns to Retasu, "1...2...3!" They leap hard, pulling Shirogane with them over the banisters to the second floor.

The monsters growl beneath them, then move closer to one another.

The group watch in dismay as the beasts combine into an even larger monster.

"Now what?" Retasu whines as it turns toward them again.

No one responds.

Ichigo and Minto stand on the roof of the jewelry store. She turns to Minto. "Save Purin and Taruto. They are wrapped in a human-sized black cocoon in the storage room. Freeze it."

Without another word, Ichigo makes a leap and heads off toward the supermarket.

Minto heads inside and races through the display room into the storeroom. On the floor, she finds two black cocoons with a large black spider with bright red eyes and markings standing over it. It hisses and pulls the cocoons close.

Minto takes on her Dark Minto form and manifests an ice sword.

The spider shrinks back and spews a black, tar-like substance that attaches itself to Minto's leg. She screams as it expands and begins to cover it. _Freeze it._ She remembers Ichigo's words.

She holds out her hand and forces the tar to turn into ice, letting it fall off.

Seeing this, the spider backs up into the dark shadows.

Without wasting another second, Minto freezes the tar on Taruto and Purin, causing it to fall away.

"Purin? Taruto?" She says.

She begins to panic. _How long had they been in there? Brain damage starts to take effect at how many minutes again? Oh no. What if I didn't save them in time! What if-_

"PURIN!" She yells at the top of her lungs. She slaps her hard against the cheek. "WAKE UP!" She cries as she shakes her. "Please wake up!"

"Would you stop that!" Purin responds, opening her eyes. "What in the world-" She looks around. "I'm... alive..." She says, marveling. She jerks with a start. "Taruto!" She moves to him and caresses his head and brings him close to her.

She brings her ear close to his mouth. "He isn't breathing! Minto, do you know CPR?"

"Why would I know CPR-"

Purin positions Taruto's body like she'd seen on television.

"What are you doing!" Minto panics. "You could kill someone if you don't know-"

Purin faces her, eyes tearing, "I have to try!" She tilts his head back and blows gently into his mouth.

Minto sighs, "I'll help." She places two hands on his sternum and applies moderate pressure three times.

Purin blows again, and Minto pumps three times once more. Again and again they try to revive him until finally, he gasps for air.

"Taruto!" She calls as she wraps her arms around him.

He embraces her back, kissing her on her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too!" Purin responds.

"Let's leave the mushy stuff for later," Minto stands up, glancing to where the spider was, then turning toward the exit. "Let's go make sure everyone else is ok." _We'll decide what to do with you later..._

"Everyone else?" Purin asks, following.

"Yeah. Apparently there were traps waiting for all of us..." Minto responds as they head out the door.

Meanwhile, Ichigo enters the supermarket, and immediately sees a flashing light. She races toward it, hearing Zakuro's cries more and more clearly.

Ichigo rounds the final corner to see Zakuro sitting in a corner, clutching a heavily-breathing Pai. With one hand, she held onto him, and with the other, she shot blasts of light toward a hideous creature with red markings covered in rubble that also seemed to be breathing heavily.

"DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!" she yells and blasts the ceiling, causing another piece to fall onto the monster. It cries out in pain.

Ichigo approaches Zakuro and notices the tortured bodies on the ground. Her heart aches as she realizes what these poor people must have gone through.

She reaches Zakuro just as the beast tries to rise again. Zakuro raises her arm to strike, but Ichigo places her hand on it, lowering it.

Zakuro looks at her, carrying the appearance of a bloody angel. She breaks into tears as she hugs Pai close. "Look what he did to Daniel." She says like a frightened child. Immediately, Ichigo pulls out her phone and calls 9-1-1.

Then, Ichigo hugs her close, feeling Zakuro's pain with each one of her loud sobs.

The monster stands to its feet, staggering, and Zakuro tries to raise her hand again.

"It's okay now." Ichigo whispers soothingly. "I will take it from here. I will protect you both."

She stands and faces the beast. It looks back at her and bares its teeth, then freezes and steps backward. It concentrates on Ichigo's expression, sensing that what it saw was not fear, but a desire for it to do one more disagreeable thing so she would have an excuse to slay it.

A sword of fire appears in each of Ichigo's hands. Parts of it flicker in blue, daring the beast.

It takes another step backward.

The building begins to rumble. Ichigo looks around, seeing smashed pillars, missing ceiling, and fallen doors.

She lets the swords dissipate as she moves to help Zakuro lift Pai and move out of the grocery store.

Once outside, they meet Minto, Purin, and Taruto who were standing next to the paramedics. The paramedics immediately set to caring for both Pai and the terrorized Zakuro.

Ichigo turns around to face the supermarket just as it collapses.

"Where are Anton and the Green Team?" she asks.

Minto responds, "We haven't seen them!" she begins to worry.

"Come," she says as she leaps toward the CTA station, Minto, Purin, and Taruto in tow.

Behind in the rubble, the monster climbs out.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9: Awakening Giants Part I**_

Escor watches as Ichigo and the others race toward the CTA station, biting her nails.

_This isn't how things were supposed to go._ She looks around, expecting Him to appear at any moment. _Ichigo! Why are you not in despair? Why did you not access your form? _She bites the nub of her nail so hard it draws blood. She races toward the jewelry store.

Retasu, Anton, and Shirogane move along the second floor, keeping an eye on the beast below. It growled at them.

They hear a noise. A train was arriving on the platform outside. They watch as it slows to a stop.

"Don't let them get off the train!" Anton yells as he takes a better hold of Shirogane, leaving Retasu free.

She races out the door.

Anton and Shirogane look down, but can no longer see the monster. They hear a crashing sound somewhere down the way on their left.

Retasu arrives on the platform just as the doors open. She makes huge motions for the people to stay back. "No! Go back inside! There is a monster!"

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a blast of water smashes the track in front of the train. The people scream as they stampede into the station, stepping over one another.

"This way!" she hears Shirogane call from inside. She turns to see him supporting himself on a banister with one hand as he motions the people to safety.

Anton appears next to Retasu, shuriken in hand just as the train is thrown into the air by another blast of water. It falls on top of the station, creating a large hole with a loud explosion. The people inside scream as they duck debris and sparks.

"Keep moving!" Shirogane demands as the first set of people reach the stairs on the other side.

Outdoors, Anton and Retasu wait for the next move of the beast, but see nothing. They walk closer to the broken edge of the platform and peer down. Still nothing.

"ANTON! RETASU! INSIDE!" The Green Knight calls.

Indoors, the beast had reappeared on the first floor, chasing the people.

A woman and a small boy run hand in hand trough the crowd. The kid trips on a piece of fallen ceiling, causing his hand to slip from hers.

"Mommy!" the kid calls as his mom is swept away with the crowd.

She reaches out as she sees the beast baring toward him, "TIMOTHY!" But the crowd doesn't stop.

The kid tries to pull himself up, but can't put weight on his sore ankle. He falls back down and begins to wail.

The monster stands above him and opens his mouth to eat him, but reels as he feels the sabre of the Green Knight penetrate its cheek.

The mom makes her way to her kid and pulls him away from the reeling monster, clutching him close. She makes her way back upstairs again, out of it's reach.

Retasu and Anton enter, poised to strike. They see the beast, sabre still in its cheek, turn to them, angry.

"Can we beat this thing?" Retasu asks hesitantly, recreating her water swords.

"Probably not. But if this thing doesn't kill us, Ichigo will if she finds we didn't get everyone out to safety." Anton responds readying his shuriken.

"Then let's make it happen." Ryou adds, holding up his other sabre.

Right at that second, Ichigo, Purin, Minto, and Taruto burst through the door. They rush in and take their battle stances as Retasu and The Indigo Knight jump down to join them.

"Listen." Ichigo starts. "We're taking that thing down. Whatever that entails."

The rest nod as they charge toward it.

The monster spews blasts of water that hit Minto and Purin, knocking them back.

"RETASU!" Ichigo yells. "What are you doing? Stop the blasts!"

"They're too strong for me!" She responds.

"Then get stronger. FAST." Ichigo leaps, barely missing a water blast and slashing the side of the beast next to Ryou's sabre. She lands and immediately jumps up again. "Looks like 4 hours isn't enough!" She says to her team.

Panic grips their heart. The last thing they wanted was longer practices.

Retasu holds out her arms and concentrates. The beast throws another blast that comes straight for Taruto, but she dispels it, splitting it in two directions that hit the wall.

"That's the way!" She hears Ichigo yell as the slashes the beast again.

Retasu smiles as the rescued Yellow Knight delivers a powerful blast with his nanchaku. Everyone seemed to be delivering blasts that drove the monster back into a corner and allowed all the people to get to the door. But, her smile vanished as she saw a woman clad in orange blocking the door with a tall, tar-colored man-like beast with glowing-red markings and eyes and a giant spider-type with the same markings. The woman laughed as she made a motion to the two monsters behind her and they combined, creating a larger phantasm with the body of a male and the arms and eyes of a spider.

It crashed through the entrance, knocking debris all over the people trapped between the two now gigantic beasts.

"COME!" She yells as she holds out her hand and causes a bridge to appear over the Mews and Knights, connecting the water beast and the arachnid. The group watches in horror as the two combine into an even larger monster.

Escor looks at Ichigo. _Now! Now what will you do? Show me your form! Embrace what will let you cause even more damage than my creation!_

The Mews and knights move backwards, terrified as they turn to Ichigo. Ichigo's eyes sharpen as she steps forward. They watch her as she manifests two red fire katana, her eyes ablaze.

_I am an idiot! I can't beat this! But... _Ichigo sees the others through the corner of her eyes. _If I don't try, they'll give up. _She clenches her swords tightly.

_You can't be serious, Ichigo. _Escor thinks, then shrugs. _Once you get beaten down a bit, you'll bring it out._ She watches the others start to walk forward too. _Or maybe after your friends get a bit of a beating..._

Meanwhile, Zakuro sat outside the operating room, head resting on one hand, holding the card of a psychologist. Part of her was embarrassed to see a psychologist, but at the same time, she knew that she had gone through something no one ever should. She shuddered as she remembered that poor woman's face approaching her. She looks up at the door.

_Pai... you've been in there for hours... They told me you were already stable, but..._ Tears begin to fall again. She pulls another tissue from the box, wipes her face, and adds it to pile in the seat next to her.

Her stomach grumbles. _Food! At a time like this! I've been a bottomless pit lately..._ She gets up and walks to the vending machine.

_Hmm..._

She looks at the choices. _Oreos... Nutter Butters... Jelly Beans... I'll bet they'd taste really good together..._ She buys them all and takes a seat again. She stares at the door as she opens each one and places a couple jelly beans between an oreo and a Nutter Butter. _I wish they had a Starbucks here... This would be great with a Caramel Apple Spi-_

She pauses and puts down the food. _I don't like sugar. I've never liked sugar. _She cups a hand on her mouth, breathing heavily. _Oh no. No!_

Just then, the door opens and Pai is wheeled out, still asleep. She stands up, and one of the surgical staff comes to her. He extends his hand. "Hi. I'm Dr. Barnet."

She shakes his hand. "I'm-"

"I know who you are, Mew Zakuro. It has been my pleasure helping you both. You may not remember, but the Mews and Knights saved my wife." He motions for them to take a seat, and Zakuro moves the tissues out of his way. She takes a couple mini oreos, some jelly beans, and a nutter butter, and stuffs it in her mouth, ravenously.

He looks at the snacks, then at Zakuro's abs, then at her face.

She sees his glance, suddenly embarrassed as she realized how she looked, but still intent on ignoring it. "How's Pai?"

"As I told you when he went in, he's stable. We had to replace two of his ribs."

Zakuro looks down, saddened.

"It's okay now. He'll be fine once he rests a few days. Whatever happened out there smashed two of his ribs and punctured his lung."

She looks up at him, startled.

"It's alright now!" he smiles. "His lung is fine." he places a hand on her shoulder. "And perhaps you should get some rest too." He stands up as he glances again at her abs.

Zakuro rises also, "I don't know if I'm..."

"You know, there is a really good gynecologist here. I'm on break now. Would you like me to take you to her?"

Zakuro hesitates.

"Come on. It won't take long. Plus, wouldn't it be a nice something nice to tell your knight when he wakes up? Speed his recovery perhaps?" he coaxes, obviously curious himself.

"Ok..." Zakuro says softly, disposing of the tissues and gathering her snacks.

Back at the station, Ichigo shoots off a blast of fire, slightly injuring the beast. She takes a slap from it that knocks her all the way to the other side. The Mews gasp.

"I'm... okay!" she forces herself to get up.

Seeing her courage, they all attack at once, not seriously injuring it, but disabling it from moving forward. It tries to cover itself as it takes injuries from several different sources. It moves backwards, forcing Escor to move out the way.

Finally, it stands outside the station, trying to get an attack in, but trying to avoid the attacks. One of the sores begins to bleed.

"Aim for the heart with repeated blasts!" Ichigo calls. The Mews and Knights oblige.

"GO, YOU USELESS MISTAKE! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" Escor yells.

The beast turns to her, livid, and Ichigo raises her arm for them to stop firing.

"Mi...su...ta...k..." it tries to speak. "I...not...mis...take..." it takes a step closer to her.

Escor raises her hand, creating spikes, and jabs one into its fin. The best clutches it.

"FOCUS!" she demands and points back at the Mews.

"Mis...take..." it says again and again.

"Yes. A failed experiment... yada yada yada..." she points to the Mews again.

"What do you mean by a 'failed experiment'?" Ichigo demands.

Escor looks over at her. "None of your business." she states snappily.

"Wan...na...know...too..." the monster says.

Escor sighs. _Well... there goes this plan..._ She starts to step away, but finds her exit blocked by Minto and Taruto.

"We're a bit curious too." Minto says, arms folded.

She snickers and points to the beast. "That thing is a bunch of humans we tried to give powers and failed. Well, for every fabulous success," she turns around, modeling herself, "there are a few failures."

The wail of the monster echoes through the city.

Seeing the Mews distracted by it, she takes the opportunity to warp herself to her created dimension.

She storms down the tunnel and rounds the corner toward Andrew's cell, but finds more than just The Red Knight. Standing before him and looking in are three of His cat girls, including the one she pushed away last time, clad in tight leather, just the way that man liked it. But, these girls were not cosplaying a dominatrix.

Escor steps back and gulps. She knew they were here for her life. She sees Andrew peek around the corner, watching.

They walk toward her, cat eyes boring into her. They corner her against a wall, and show her a monitor.

"Hello, Escor," the man with blazing red hair says.

"H-h-hello, my lord," she stammers.

"My sweet flower, you have failed me. Now, why have you failed me?" he asks, cynically, like a cat toying with a mouse before the kill.

She looks at the girls, feeling them just itching to kill her. "I... uh..." she looks back at the monitor. "I didn't fail you!" the words seemed to just jump out of her mouth.

"Hmmmm," he asks, interested, yet not believing her. "How so?" she sees another of his cat girls move onto his lap. He caresses her hair. "It looks like you've made Ichigo stronger."

"Well... uh... that's only phase one!" sweat drops from her brow. "To make her think she's stronger, then bring her down with the strategic reappearance of The Red Knight!"

Andrew sits back in his cell. _Strategic reappearance? Nagia! Making you unable to move on..._

She continues, "He'll reappear at key points in time, breaking her heart. You've seen her! Love is her weakness. She'll do anything to protect those dear to her. Even enter that ultimate form. And... I promised you a year. It has only been 3 months!"

The man in white smiles. "Come back, Koneko-chan-tachi." he says. The cat girls hiss at Escor, then move away. He continues, "You've entertained me. Now. Make sure you keep your promise, or 9 months from now, you will face your death." The screen goes black.

Once the felines leave, she collapses on the ground, breathing heavily.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10: Awakening Giants Part II**_

Pai awakens to the sound of Zakuro's soft singing. He opens his eyes and turn to her. He grabs his arm and kisses his hand, lovingly. Tears were in her eyes. He tries to get up, but feels a sharp pain in his chest.

"No! Stay here and rest." Zakuro helps him lay down comfortably again. She kisses his forehead.

"What happened? How did we get away? Are you... okay?"

She places a hand on his cheek. "Ichigo saved us. How do you feel?"

Pai grasps her hand. "Groggy..."

"That's understandable. You were in surgery." she responds.

"Surgery!" he opens his shirt to reveal thick bandages. "What did they do to me?"

"They had to replace two of your ribs," she responds. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried."

He grasps her hand tighter and smiles at her. "I'm hardy. I'll be okay."

Zakuro's stomach growls. She smiles at him, embarrassed, and stands up. He looks at her and chuckles.

"You get some rest. I'm just going to the cafeteria," she gives him a kiss on the lips.

She steps out of the room, clutching her stomach. She leans against the wall. _I couldn't tell him. Seeing him lying there... This is the environment we will bring our child up in? Never knowing if Mommy and Daddy will make it home at night. Is this fair to our child? _She sighs. _I grew up without a parent... can I do that to my child?_

As she walks toward the cafeteria, she sees several nurses whispering. Then, the youngest one hesitantly approaches her. "Um... Mew Zakuro..."

"Hmm?" she asks, more interested in dinner than this woman.

"Congratulations on your baby!" she seems to glow with happiness. "I'm such a fan!" Three more nurses, a male and two females, join them, also giving their congratulations.

"It's the The Purple Knight's, isn't it?" the male nurse asks.

Yet another nurse approaches, "Have you thought of any names yet?"

"What did The Purple Knight say? Had you all been trying long?" an older nurse jumps in.

Zakuro's stomach grumbles.

The group chuckles. "Well, of course you would be hungry!" the older nurse says as she puts a hand on Zakuro's abs. "You're eating for two now!"

Zakuro forces a smile as the merry group walks with her to the cafeteria.

The Mews and Knights stand watching the beast, somehow sorry for it. For the last few minutes, it had been yelling and pounding the spot where Escor disappeared. Finally, it stopped, and sat still.

Just as Ichigo was about to call out to it, it moved, smashing its arm through the side of the building. The people trapped on the second floor gasped.

"Shirogane, call Professor Boris! Tell him to send his best Koe!" Ichigo yells as she races to halt the beast. "STOP!" Ichigo calls out.

It looks at her and roars, but she doesn't back down.

The other Mews and the Knights creep forward, trying to gain the courage to join her.

The monster reaches toward one of the citizens.

Ichigo throws a ball of fire on its arm, burning it. It grabs its arm, cupping the burn and watches Ichigo as the man moves far away. For several minutes, they just stare at one another. Then, the beast roars loudly again, and leaps toward the crowd.

The Mews jump into action.

Minto, Anton, Purin, and Taruto use their angelic forms to blast part of the ceiling, causing it to fall on the beast while Retasu directed the people to safety.

The beast collapses under the weight as the people run past it. The monster starts to get up, knocking part of the ceiling on a woman and pinning her underneath, but Retasu uses her Retasu Rush to move it out the way and carries the woman to safety.

Once the people had safely made it outside, the Mews could deal with the monster. It only took it a few seconds to throw off the rubble and face them again with the full force of its anger.

It first runs toward Purin and Taruto. They try to make more of the ceiling fall on it, but miss. It comes baring down on them. They try to run, but see the shadow of its arm right above them. They brace themselves for the impact, but it never comes.

The sound of machine guns rings out. The group turns to see the military burst through the front.

The monster growls and turns to face them. It flexes its muscles and the bullets fall off of his back.

"Surrender now or we will be forced to shoot you!" a man who had emerged from the tank warns.

The monster grins and plunges toward them.

"FIRE!" the man commands as the tank shoots at the beast. The impact catches it in the gut, but does nothing more than knock the wind out of it. The beast grabs the projectile and throws it back, causing an explosion that wipes out the tank. Satisfied, it turns back to the Mews and Knights.

A voice rings out, and they look to their right to see a frail girl in a uniform with a gold emblem followed by the monster landing on the ground with a grunt. Ichigo stands above it holding two fire swords in blue. Two slashes still burn on its back.

The other Mews and Knights gather around it, baring their weapons.

"Ki...ll...me..." it pleads.

"No." Ichigo responds. "We know that's why you just went on a rampage like this, but we won't kill you."

"Why?... I'm...a... mon...ster..."

"But you were once human. And we are not the law." Minto states. "Now hold still."

"Mew Mew Purin! Me-ta-mo-ri-pho-sis!"

The voice of the girl rings out again.

"Purin ring! INFERNO!"

The Mews and Knights jump away just as the beast is locked inside the inferno.

"We did it!" She squeals, but stops when Ichigo gives her a look.

"We've failed," she says simply. "How many people do you think died because we did not respond fast enough?"

The group averts their eyes.

Ichigo puts a hand over her face. "We've been treating this like a game. Like if we just worked hard and did the best we could, we'd win." She points toward the supermarket. "That is OUR fault."

"Ichigo!" Minto yells. "You can't expect us to save the world, can you? This isn't some anime! We CAN'T save the world! We're human! We're real!"

"Then who is going to do it?" Ichigo retorts. "Do you see the military anywhere anymore? Who took down this beast? We did. Who defeated Deep Blue? We did. Don't you get it? This world has changed! The military is like swords, and these opponents are like guns. No contest."

They all pause, soaking it in.

"Listen," Ichigo starts again, interrupting the melancholy silence. "Let this be our lesson. No more complaining about practices. No more treating this like a game. That beast" she points to it, "used to be countless human souls. People. Look what they did to them. Look and feel it. Let it sink in. We are all that stands between the people and... Them. If we forget, every one of those people died in vain." She looks down. "Next time, let's truly win."

**A month later**

"GOT...YA!" Anton and Minto say in unison in their angelic forms, breathing heavily as they corner Retasu and prepare to strike her with light.

She waves her hands in front of her face, "I give!"

The Blue Team lower their hands.

"Four minutes!" Ichigo calls out from a room overlooking the practice gym. She races down to them and opens the door.

"Why do we have to do this?" Retasu wines, heart rate still high.

Ichigo tosses her a bottle of water. She ignores the question. "Retasu, you're holding out longer against these two. Good job." She turns to Anton and Minto. "You two, on the other hand, are getting slow." she steps back. "Come on. Take me on."

Retasu scampers out the way and into the control room above where Shirogane monitors each persons vitals.

"Good job out there." he gives her a high five.

"Why does she have us fight against two people who are in a higher form?"

"To make you stronger in your weaker form. And, to increase the efficiency of the duo," he responds, half paying attention to her and half watching the battle between the Blue Team and Ichigo.

Retasu takes a gulp of water.

"Ya know, we really are getting better." he comments. "One of these days, you should watch the first day you fought against Minto and Anton compared to today."

Down below, Anton and Minto pin Ichigo into a corner.

"Four minutes eighteen seconds!" Ryou calls in the microphone. They all wave and exit the arena. Anton and Minto head up the stairs to join them and watch their replays as Ichigo heads toward the school, beeper in hand.

On her way up, she passes Retasu and Purin.

"Ichigo! Did you pick out your swimsuit for the party tonight yet?" Purin asks.

"Ah... I'll do it before I get back..." Ichigo waves as she heads toward the door. "Got a 9-1-1 page from the lab!" She reaches toward the door, opens it, sees a figure, then jumps back. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the Koe from the battle with the beast.

"Um... I..." she starts. "I wanted to say thank you for letting me fight with you! It was an honor!"

Ichigo smiles politely, but takes a glance toward her car. "You didn't have to come all the way out here to tell me that. Besides, it is your voice that strengthened us. Thank you. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Actually... I … tomorrow... for the teams..."

The light turns on in Ichigo's head. "Ah. The elite teams I'm sending all around Chicago."

"Please consider me!" she blurts out.

"Of course you'll be considered. Now, I've really got to get going, but feel free to have some cake. It's in the fridge." she opens the door wide for the girl to enter and runs to her car.

Ichigo enters the lab a half hour later. There, she finds an older, plump woman peeking into her office. Ichigo furls her brows, but approaches.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

The woman points inside at a baby with pink hair and small brown horns.

"Peek-a-boo?"

"No!" the woman responds. "Don't you know what that is!"

_It's a baby..._ "I guess I don't..." she responds, waiting for the answer, but expecting something obvious.

"A diclonius."

Ichigo stares at the woman as she peeks inside again, and ducks down.

The woman looks up at her and catches her glance. "I'm not crazy! It's dangerous!"

…

"I'm going home," Ichigo responds, ticked.

The woman runs in front of her and grabs her shoulders. "You don't understand!" She lets go and begins to pace, talking to herself.

Finally, she turns to Ichigo. "They've made it. A Lucy! This baby means there is a Lucy!"

"ACK! Come on! What the heck are you talking about! Why is there a baby in the laboratory?"Ichigo demands.

"Okay...There are some who have been born with powers and some who were given the powers of various anime, manga, comic, television, etc. characters..."

"Yes..."

"Naturals can only be born from naturals and those from cartoons and whatnot must always transform. And they can only give birth to powerless or transforming beings, even if the other parent is a natural. This child is a diclonius. The human mutation from the anime Elfen Lied."

"I get it. She's a baby. Babies don't transform. She's a natural."

"In the anime, there is a character named Lucy that has the ability to make a baby a diclonius like her. They must have made a Lucy!" the scientist begins to shake.

"You said they're dangerous. How so?" Ichigo inquires.

"They have any number of invisible arms that... well... um... I'd just watch the show if I were you..."

"I see... So, why is the child here?"

"A student found the baby a couple days ago with a note saying the child was abandoned and began raising it in her dorm room."

"Is she okay?" Ichigo panics.

The scientist starts, "Oh she's fine. She'll be in detention every day after school for the rest of the week, though. Anyway, the smell of dirty diapers became too much for her floormates, so earlier today, a couple burst in. One was an otaku and immediately recognized the child's traits and called me."

"I see..." she peeks in at the baby. "And they are all dangerous?"

"All except one," she rises, careful to keep an eye on the child. "There was one diclonius who wasn't named Nana."

"Nana..." Ichigo repeats, staring at the child.

"Oh no! You can't be-"

Ichigo turns to her, "Well, what else will we do with her? Kill her?" Ichigo makes a face when she sees the woman's expression.

"When you see what those monsters are capable of-"

Ichigo's face softens. "You could have already killed her if you wanted to. But you called me because you had doubts." She smiles.

The woman sighs. "I'm a mad scientist, remember? You always treat me like I'm better than what I am..." she looks at the floor, slightly warmed inside. Then, she freezes and turns back to Ichigo, panicking. "That atrocity is going to live here, isn't it..."

Ichigo places a hand on the glass. "Well, we can't very well let her loose among the public if she is as dangerous as you say she is. And she's been abandoned... so..."

"I'll be killed! Those creatures rip people apart!"

"Elfen Lied you said, right? I'll watch it tonight." She taps lightly on the glass. "Nana."

"Nana..." the scientist sighs. "You chose Nana..."

"She hasn't done anything wrong," Ichigo says as she heads back to her car.

"Yet," the scientist whispers under her breath.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11: Atarashii Jinsei **__**新しい人生**_

Purin delivers a drop kick right on the shoulder of the tar-colored monster with glowing red markings and eyes, forcing him to the ground.

"TIME!" Ichigo's voice rings through the practice room.

Purin lands and bows toward the monster once before scampering out.

"That's two more days off your sentence," Ichigo states. For about the last month or so, the beast had been in a maximum security prison, but he easily broke through the walls, terrorizing the inmates. So, Ichigo offered to take him off their hands to test out her new diclonius-proof room. So far, it had been working. The main problem lied in feeding this beast. Knowing it was partial to extremely fresh protein, the government paid for it to be fed on various pork and beef. By the Mews' request, each time it completed a practice battle with one of the Mews or Knights, two days were shaved off of its 100-year sentence. She had argued that practicing against such a formidable enemy would enable the Mews and Knights to be better at protecting the world.

The monster holds out its grotesque arms to be tied and taken back to the metal room.

Purin enters the control room and takes over as Ichigo turns into Nagia to head off to school.

Outside, Nagia enters her car and flips a switch, changing the license plate, just in case.

Sofia lay out in the backyard in a black bikini along the pool, soaking up the sun while sipping a glass containing SlimFast, Pepsi, and milk and reading a novel. She had resolved not to enter the mansion under any circumstance if that disgusting monster were there. In fact, she and Ichigo were in a quarrel over it. She cringes as she remembers how she had slapped Ichigo and run off crying. _Pregnancy_ h_ormones, I hate the!_

Iva walks out clad in blue and white tennis attire with her hair in the traditional Minto style. She turns to Sofia, looks toward the court, then does a double take back to Sofia.

Sofia catches her staring. She sets down her book and takes a large swig of her concoction. "What?" She asks.

Iva walks forward and stares at her waist.

Sofia cringes. _I shouldn't be showing! I'm only 4 and a half weeks!_

"Um... Sofia..." she starts, stepping back.

Sofia begins to panic. "What!"

"I don't know how to tell you this... but perhaps a friend should as opposed to your agent... but..."

"What!"

"You're putting on a bit of weight."

_I checked the scales this morning! I don't weigh a pound more than I did... thanks to morning sickness..._

She forces a smile. "Thank you, Iva..."

Iva sees through the forced expression. "I'm sorry! I just didn't want you to get embarrassed in front of a casting director or something! It probably won't take more than a day to burn it off! I mean, you've only gained an inch around your waist, nothing terrible..."

Zakuro sighs. _Fans... the most fearsome things on this planet..._She puts her glasses back on and continues her novel as Iva scurries to the tennis court. Sofia sneaks a peek as she runs, thinking. _If she knows, it won't be long before everyone does. _She covers her face with the book.

She begins to fall asleep, but no sooner feels a light tap on her shoulder. She moves the book to see Iva.

"I am so sorry for asking this if I'm wrong, but I saw the drink... and the fight and you weren't acting like yourself and …. uh... Might you be... expecting... or something?" Iva asks timidly.

_I have severely underestimated my fans._

Sofia starts to fake a smile, but her question was like a punch in the chest. She takes a deep breath. "Yeah."

Iva's response was one Sofia would remember for the rest of her life. The usually-composed-and-elegant Blue Mew covered her mouth to stifle a huge, giddy scream, then proceeded to throw out a few OMG's until Sofia motioned for her to cover her mouth again.

"Does Pai know?"

"Not ye-"

"It is his, isn't it?"

"Who do you think I-"

"Is it a boy or girl?"

"I'm four we-"

"Does your agent know?"

"Were you listening? I haven't even tol-"

"I wonder what your adoring public will think!"

"You aren't listening to me... Are y-"

"Oh my goodness! Does that make me the first to know?"

"The nurses and my gynec-"

"I'm the first to know!"

"Hello..."

"Pregnant! Pregnant! Mini Sofias!"

"..."

Zakuro places the book back over her face while Iva erupted in squeals. _Sigh. It wasn't real before... Like just a bad dream... I'll tell Pai when he gets out of physical therapy... _She turns over and scrunches into a fetal position. _Now, there is only one more thing left to do._

Nagia sits in the front of class, trying to pay attention to Accounting, but still feeling conscious of Andrew several seats behind her. She tried to tell herself it was her imagination, but she always felt like he was staring at her...

_Man this class is so boring... As Mew Ichigo, I already own a business... Sigh... But as Nagia, I'm just a student..._

She lets her mind wander to Nana. It took her several hours, but eventually, she figured out she had just adopted a baby. _And I wish Andrew were her father..._ she imagines, but quickly forces her mind on how to raise Nana so that she doesn't turn out like all the others instead. After watching Elfen Lied, she worried about how the child would interact with others. She didn't want to kill the child, but she didn't want to lock her up for life either. She certainly did not want to be responsible for any lost lives because of her decision.

_I wish you were with me._ She thinks about Andrew.

Retasu peeks into the lab carrying a large bentou box. She stares at Ichigo as she feeds a baby with pink hair and horns while wearing a helmet and safety vest. Shaking her head, she finds herself staring again at Akasaka as he melds together what appears to be a metal crib. With a sigh, she searches for Ryou, who she locates in front of a series of test tubes and beakers, writing something down in a notebook. He appears to be talking to himself.

She enters and stands a meter from him, just watching as he combined the contents of two test tubes into a beaker, shook the beaker, and took more notes. Several minutes went by before he noticed her, but even when he did, he didn't pay her much attention.

Undeterred, she holds up her box, "I brought lunch!" she announces.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," he says, adjusting his goggles. "Maybe later."

"Oh..." Retasu laments.

Ichigo pretends to pass him nonchalantly, but gives him a quick, hard poke in the side. He doubles over, angry at her for using his weak spot, but when he catches her eyes, he sees her glare at him. He looks over at Akasaka and finds a coaxing expression. He sighs and turns to Retasu, removing his goggles.

"Perhaps a little lunch will do me good," he concedes.

Retasu brightens up and scurries to bring two chairs up to an empty table. She sets out a beautiful spread of Japanese and American foods.

"Heh. None for us," Ichigo smiles as she and Akasaka watch the two laugh and chat together.

"I heard they've already transformed into their Angelic forms."

"Yep. Meaning somewhere in their hearts, they hold a place for one another."

Ichigo notices the bottle is empty, and removes it, placing the baby over her shoulder to burp her.

Akasaka steps away from them, "Why are you taking such a risk?"

"Who else will? Those things on the other side brought to life something that shouldn't be, but that doesn't mean she's done anything wrong. She is just as guiltless as any other baby." the little one burps. "And, perhaps she could fight on our side one day. Right, Nana? Yeah. Nana's a good girl." Ichigo kisses her on the head. _I'm counting on you. I'm believing in you. Please know that. I'm trusting you while no one else will. _Ichigo cradles her. _I am so sorry you are like this. Those horrible b-ds, performing experiments like this. We will stop them. I promise you, Nana. We have scouts out right now. We will find their hideout and stop them. _

Sofia lay next to her snoring husband. Tears stained her cheeks as she quietly whimpered. Her husband had tried to make love to her that night, but seeing his scar, she burst out in tears. She felt horrible, but the scar brought her back to that time sitting in the supermarket, Pai gasping in her arms.

She kisses his ear gently, letting her hair fall against it. "Daniel, I'm pregnant," she whispers. "You have a little one. I don't know what to tell you first..." she lies down, comforted by his breathing. "I'm scared of giving birth. I'm scared of being a mom. I was happy with it just being you and me, but you wanted a child. Still, I didn't think it would happen this fast!" she looks over at the pills. "It's like it isn't real yet. But, when I tell you tomorrow, it will be. And I am so afraid. I was abandoned by my parents, Daniel. You can't die and leave us. Can we really raise a child?"

Pai turns over and snores deeply.

She covers her face with her arm and waits for sleep to take her.

"Just a little farther!" Taruto shelters Lindsay with his body as they make their way through thick brush. "See that light? Right there!" he calls. Finally, the last branch is pushed away as they stand in the middle of a meadow filled with bright blue flowers seeming to glow in the moonlight.

Lindsay runs straight out into them, hands raised, laughing. The sweet scent of the plants fill her nostrils. Taruto flies next to her, holding out his hand. She grabs it, and lifts her slightly. They soar together right over them. Taruto lowers his hand and picks one, placing it in her hair. Finally, he sets her down and they let themselves fall right into them.

They look at one another, and grasp hands, fingers intertwined.

"How did you find this place?" Lindsay asks.

Taruto smiles, "I found them while scouting the area. Basically, unless you fly, you'd never even know it was here!"

Lindsay picks another and smells it tenderly. "They're beautiful."

"To me, you're even more beautiful." She looks over to Taruto, surprised by how close he was. His face came only inches from hers. She shuts her eyes as he kisses her gently on the corner of the lips, then on her lips. They kiss passionately for a while before Taruto moves on top of her, her hair now covered in flowers. He caresses her neck, then her back, then he touches the buttons on her dress, quickly loosening them, but then lets go when he touches her bra. They stare at one another.

"I'm sorry," he says as he starts to move away.

She grabs his sleeve. "It's okay." she blushes. "I'm ready. If it's you... I'm ready."

He kisses her forehead. "Let's have our first time right here. In this spot with you in a long, beautiful dress, completely mine." He stands up.

"Taruto?" she asks, glad, but confused.

He kneels down and kisses her lips again. "I love you."

She touches his face, "I love you."

As they lay, Lindsay asleep and snuggled up to Taruto with her back against him, Taruto tenderly kisses her moonlight-illuminated neck.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12: Sour Memories**_

Andrew sits in his cell trying to concentrate on homework. He found that even though several months had past, his most frequent thoughts were still of Nagia. He wondered how she was, what she was doing... He had to keep telling himself he wanted her to find someone new. That it would be good for her, and it would save her, and thus be the right thing to do. But, he wanted to marry her. Never before had he wanted the white picket fence life so much.

_Ack! Mistake again! The derivative of e to the x power is not e to the x-1! _He squeezes the pencil. _I need to concentrate!_

He hears something down the hall. He turns to look, but sees nothing, so he turns back to his work. It would be weird to hear anything on a Friday. There were no classes, so no need for Escor to take him anywhere.

He hears another sound.

"Get up!" Escor yells at him.

He stands, "Where are we going?" he asks.

"I'm taking you to meet Ichigo." she replies.

_Oh no. What is this woman up to?_

Ichigo exits the lab and stretches. She feels the wedding rings against her chest. She clutches them, wishing to be held and warmed from the cold wind. Though several months had past, she couldn't get used to being without Andrew, especially when she held Nana. It was like she had a baby, but not as she dreamed it would be, with Andrew by her side. It made her miss him deeply. She shuts her eyes.

"Ichigo?"

_Andrew's voice! Andrew... Please... if I can have you still in my thoughts..._

"Ichigo?"

She opens her eyes and sees Andrew staring back at her. "A-Andrew?" she says, scarcely unable to believe it. She feels a mixture of hurt, love, and rage well up inside her, her mind in a frazzle between wanting to slap him for having the audacity to speak to her, wanting to run unto his arms, and wanting to run away. She watches him, afraid of what he might do.

"Take a walk with me."

Without knowing why, she follows. Like a puppy dog. He walks in front of her, his all-to-familiar scent surrounding her. His hand was swinging beside him. She wanted to grab it, but didn't for fear this was all a dream, and she'd realize that if she touched him.

Finally, they make their way to a park, and he takes a seat. She sits next to him.

She catches his glance.

He looks longingly at her, eyes focused on the small indentation of the rings under her shirt.

Suddenly, she feels embarrassed for still wearing them. _He's probably already moved on._ She concludes. She gathers her courage. "What is is?"

He reaches over and kisses her. Fear grips her as their lips lock. Tears flow as she feels herself holding the lever that could break the dam holding back her feelings for this man. She kisses him back, too afraid to let herself fall head-over-heels in love with him again, but enjoying every millisecond of the kiss. She feels his arms embrace her, and she embraces him back. Then, he lets her go. He looks at her with pain in his eyes.

"Andrew?" she says softly, so afraid of losing him again. Her chest begins to ache.

He gets up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." he gets up and starts to walk away.

_Shouldn't have done that! _"Andrew! Doesn't that mean you love me too? Andrew!" she calls, getting up to chase him. He rounds a corner and enters a thicker group of trees. She follows him, but doesn't see him anymore.

Back in the other dimension, Andrew sits on the ground, breathing heavily, aching deeply in his chest. He tries to relieve some of the pressure in his neck from the binding.

"Good work," Escor says simply, knowing how much pain her words would bring him. She smiles.

Ichigo searches for several hours before taking a seat against the tree. "Why? Why did you do that? I was healing, Andrew! I was healing..." she lets herself detransform into Nagia before heading back into town.

She stops by a cafe and seats herself in a booth.

"What would you like?" the waiter, a cute guy about 25 or so asks her.

"Lemon tea." she says, cheeks stained with tears.

Minutes later, a slice of apple pie is placed before her along with her tea. She looks up at the waiter and sniffles.

He smiles, "On the house."

"But, I couldn't-"

"Come on! It's tasty." He sticks a fork in it and holds it to her mouth. She gives him a look, but he forces it closer to her lips, so she takes a small bite.

She sniffles again and smiles slightly. "It's good."

"Hmm..." he says, taking a seat across from her and resting his face on his chin.

She stares at him, curious.

He sticks a finger in her pie and places the contents on her nose. Her mouth opens in shock, then she does the same to him. Back and forth they go, until both are laughing.

"You're cute when you smile," he says.

She blushes.

"Come on. Let me take you for a drink." he suggests, getting up.

She looks down. "I can't, I... uh..."

"You have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Fiance? Husband?"

"No."

"Then what's the hangup?"

She looks up at him, eyes swollen.

He pats her head gently. "Guy troubles?"

She nods.

"Ma, I'm takin' this little lady out," he calls to the kitchen.

"Okay!" the response comes back.

He removes his apron and offers her his hand, "Come on. Give me one night. I'll heal every wound he's given you."

She takes his hand. _I couldn't possibly feel any worse..._

He takes her to a hill overlooking a field, then he takes a seat on the grass and looks up at the moon. "Did you know if you tell her all your troubles, she'll fix them for you?"

Nagia chuckles.

He turns to her. "I'm serious! But, you have to yell loud, or she won't hear you," he cups his hands over his mouth. "I HAVE A HANGNAIL!" he makes a motion with his hands. "Poof!" he shows her his finger. "Look, no hangnail!"

"You dork," Nagia laughs, noticing how relaxed she felt with this guy.

"Come on. Now you try," he coaxes.

Nagia looks up to the sky.

"Start from the beginning. And spill your guts!"

Nagia gives him a soft poke on the head, then pulls her knees into her chest, taking a deep breath, "I LOVE YOU, ANDREW! WHY DID YOU CHEAT ON ME ON MY WEDDING DAY? WHAT HAPPENED TO US? WHY CAN'T I FORGET YOU? WHY DID YOU KISS ME..." her tears begin to fall again, "AFTER... FOUR MONTHS... WHY...did you come back to see me?" she begins to wipe her face angrily. "I love you. I worked so hard to forget you. Coming back like that..." she sniffles. "Wasn't fair."

She feels the waiter's arms remove both of hers from her face. Then, she feels his lips on hers as the tears stop flowing. He pulls back. "Let me comfort you. Let me heal you." He kisses her again, and she loosens up, kissing him back.

"Heal me. Please heal me," the last tear fall from her eye.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13: Owari da yo**_

The Mew Mansion consists of one mansion with 5 additional wings about the size of a condominium each. Each of the partnerships has a wing. The Red Duo stay in the North Wing, the Blue in the West. The Green stay in the East, The Yellow in the South West, and the Purple in the South East. This was arranged so they could all live in the same place, but have their own privacy. Adding up all the wings and the center mansion made the entire estate about 50,000 square feet.

Nagia yawns as she descends the main stairs and heads toward the kitchen. There, she finds Lindsay, Taruto, Ahimsa, Shirogane, and Anton, all assembled, watching the television. Partially blocking it stood Iva, completely glued to the program.

"Iva, would you move out the way? I can't see." Nagia starts as she pours herself a glass of orange juice. Iva moves and Nagia turns back to the screen. She almost drops her glass when she sees Sofia on the screen.

In big letters, the screen says, "Sofia Quits." The story was about how she suddenly told the director of a mega million dollar film that she would no longer be participating. Now, he wants to sue her for hundreds of hours of footage he will have to redo.

Nagia was just about to pick up her phone when they heard someone enter through the front door. Nagia peeks out and finds Pai. From the pep in his step, she wagered he hadn't heard. She ducks back in the kitchen and motions for the others to turn off the tv. Catching her drift, they oblige.

Pai walks in the kitchen and sticks a couple slices of bread in the toaster.

"Oh! Pai! What a pretty day it is!" Lindsay starts.

"Yeah... if you like the rain," he responds. As if on cue, thunder rattles the mansion.

The others give Lindsay angry looks.

"Um," Taruto starts, grabbing Lindsay's hand, "We've gotta go," he drags her toward the South East Wing.

One by one, everyone escapes leaving Pai alone in the kitchen with Nagia. He reaches for the remote.

"Uh!" Nagia starts, "Let's talk! How are things with you and Sofia?"

He sets down the remote. "Well," he starts, "I'm not sure. Things have been a little weird since I had surgery. It seems to have shaken her up a lot, I guess."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Nagia responds.

The toast pops up, and he places them on a plate before getting the butter out of the fridge.

"Ya know, I think you should go talk to her. Right now," Nagia suggests, smiling and nodding. "Surprise her. With these." she hands him a vase of fresh flowers.

"Think so?"

"Yeah! She'll love it, and it will get you talking, and... you know," she says as she starts to exit the kitchen. "You're a bit early, so I'm gonna go get dressed right now. Why don't you sit in the garden?" she suggests, dashing toward the stairs.

"But... It's raining..." he says to no one in particular. He picks up the remote and turns on the television. Immediately, he drops it. He grabs his cell phone and dials Sofia's number. Busy signal. He dials again. Same.

He runs to the foyer and grabs his coat. Just as he was about to leave, he hears the siren. _Horrible timing..._ he thinks. All the Mews and Knights in the house meet in the foyer, transformed as Ichigo checks the computer screen, "Giant beetle!" she reads aloud.

The group nods to one another and heads toward the city where they can already see the beast.

By the time Pai arrives, Zakuro is already there. She looks at him and smiles like nothing is wrong, but stops when she sees his expression. Part of him wanted to pull her aside, but the other saw an old woman and a baby carriage carried by two of the Beetle's arms.

"Purple Team! Old Lady! Yellow Team! Baby Carriage! The rest of you, let's go for the head!"

"Got it!" they all respond as they head toward their destinations.

Pai and Zakuro kiss and use their angelic forms to remove the bug's leg, freeing the woman. They carry her a ways away from the fight. Along the way, Zakuro sees herself on the television. _Wow. And I just quit this morning..._ She looks over at Pai, realizing he saw this before she could tell him. _Oh crap... And today I was supposed to tell him about the baby! I am in such big trouble..._

They set the woman down just as they hear the sound of the bug falling to the ground. Content they can handle the rest of it, Pai walks toward Zakuro until her back is against a tv station. Through the glass behind her, the "Sofia Quits" story played on 20 different screens.

"Um... Pai?" she says, looking up at him. She freezes when she sees his face. He was hurt.

"What's happening to us?" he starts. "Ever since I came back, you've been different. You didn't even tell me you were quitting! Why?"

Just as he asked this, a photo of Sofia in her bathing suit two months ago popped up on screen next to her latest bikini shot in a scene of the movie. The caption read. "Sofia Estrella, pregnant?"

Pai looks up, then at her.

"I'm pregnant, Pai."

He steps back, dumbfounded.

She continues, "I'm sorry! I found out while you were in ICU. Seeing you lie there... I was... scared. I-"

She feels his arms around her.

"It doesn't matter!" he kisses her cheek, then her lips. "It's okay. We're going to have a baby. How far along are you? We're going to have a baby!"

"About a month," she touches his cheek gently, "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you." she kisses his lips, softly. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I love you, Sofia."

"I love you, Daniel."

"She's what!" the Mews and Knights exclaim as they stand over the slain bug.

"She's pregnant," Pai seems to glow. "I'm going to be a daddy!"

"Does anyone else think fatherly pride looks weird on him? Or is it just me?" Purin whispers to Taruto.

"Nope," Taruto whispers back, "It isn't just you."

They laugh to themselves, but Pai couldn't care less. He was on Cloud 9.

"I'm going to be a father!"

That night, Zakuro smiles as he kisses her stomach.

"Those are kisses from your daddy!" he says.

"They can't hear you yet. They don't have ears," she tries to stifle her giggles.

He kisses her tummy again, "I'm sure our baby knows Daddy is out here, just waiting to meet it."

"I think I've fallen even more deeply in love with you," she whispers to him, then she sits up. "Well, I guess Sofia is going into hiding now."

"Why? You've already paid off the director," he lays against her lap as she strokes his hair.

"Yeah, but won't it be weird to have Sofia and Zakuro at the same stages of their pregnancy?"

"That's true," he pokes the outside of her thigh, "You know, I won't be able to lie here anymore in a few months."

"Cause I'll be fat. Like a balloon. And bloated. And I won't have a lap anymore," she jokes, "Will you still love me when I get even more moody?"

He sits up and kisses her, "Hmm... we'll see." he jokes around.

"Hey! Mr. 'I-wanna-be-a-daddy'," she lightly pokes his forehead.

He wraps his arms around her waist, letting his head lightly rest against her abs, "Yep. And this is the best gift you could have ever given me."

She strokes his head again. _And you are the best gift you could have ever given me._


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14: Unfaithful?**_

Nagia puts on her coat and tiptoes out her room and down the hall, the the rings around her neck pressing against her chest underneath her red dress.

She reaches the stares and slowly starts her descend, being extra careful not to alert the sensitive ears of her companions. She makes it to the bottom of the stairwell and looks around. _So far so good._

She turns toward the front door and eyes the marble floor before her. She takes off her shoes and begins her move.

"Nagia! Where in the world are you going at midnight?" Iva demands, startling Nagia. "Or, better question, why are you tiptoeing in the first place?"

Nagia stands up straight, "I didn't want to wake you all up."

"Why the dress?" Iva asks, exiting the kitchen with a glass of steamed milk.

Nagia sighs, "I have a date."

Iva just about drops her glass. She rushes over to Nagia. "A date!"

"I know, it's wrong and-"

Purin comes out carrying a couple cookies.

"No," Purin starts, "A date is just what you need! You've been so uptight and stressed. A good guy will help you relax." _Not to mention make our practices less deadly..._

Both start to shoe her out.

Nagia reaches the door and opens it, giving them a final look before heading out to her car.

Twenty minutes later, Nagia pulls up to the drive in movie theatre. She parks and gets out to search for Matt's, the waiter she had been going on dates with lately, car. She sees the old green beater parked near the front. Mickey Mouse cartoons play as she runs past the screen and reaches his vehicle.

When he sees her, he leans over to the passenger side and unlocks it. Nagia pulls the handle and enters.

"Hey," he says, giving her his dashing smile. He hands her a bag of popcorn.

"Hey," she responds as she pops a few kernels in her mouth.

He looks forward, "I love these cartoons. They remind me of the 90s."

"That's true. Darkwing Duck and whatnot," Nagia giggles. "I used to love all the cartoons on the Disney channel!"

They sit there silently, glued to the screen.

Eventually, the cartoon ends and the movie starts.

"_The Creature from the Basement_?" Nagia reads. "What the heck did you invite me t-" she jumps as a hideous monster suddenly appears on the screen. Popcorn lay all over her lap. She hears Matt laughing at her on her left.

"Oh har har..." she pretends to be annoyed, but she ends up smiling.

He grabs a few of the kernels off of her lap and eats them. Then, he grabs one of the few left in her bag and puts a part of it in his mouth, letting it rest between his teeth. He moves toward her, and she takes a bite on the other side, making it end in a kiss.

Nagia laughs. _Why didn't I meet you first? _She thinks.

He leans in again, puckering. Nagia kisses him, and he pulls her toward him, kissing her more and more passionately. She kisses him back, letting herself get lost in his embrace.

Someone catches Nagia's eye outside. _Andrew?_

She freezes. He pulls back. "You okay?"

She sits up, but doesn't see him anymore. Matt moves back into his seat.

"It's okay. We don't have to go there if you aren't ready."

Nagia gives him a quick smile.

She could feel it. It was like the rings around her neck were burning. _He left me! Why am I still so attached to him?_ She wanted to take off those rings, but she couldn't.

She felt sick. She hadn't done anything, but she felt like she had cheated. She looks over at Matt who was trying not to show his disappointment. Her heart ached. _Am I destined to only love Andrew? _

She wanted to go home.

Andrew stands behind the movie screen, heart aching deeply. He thought he could handle seeing Nagia with another, but when he saw that man kiss her, every bone in his body wanted to kill him. He cups his hands over his face as he realizes his true feelings. Part of him wanted Nagia to get rid of the rings for her safety, but just as much of him wanted her to keep them as they were a symbol of their love.

He kneels in the grass having lost the strength to stand, for the first time just waiting for Escor to take him back.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15: Blue & Green**_

Iva steps out the shower and wraps her body in one towel and her wet hair in another. She leaves the steam-filled room and heads into her quarters.

Her eyes go immediately to the envelope with the white embossed rose seal sitting atop an azure gown on her bed. She picks it up and opens it, then a smile graces her face. She looks at the dress for a moment before getting dressed, being careful to choose matching shoes and jewelry.

She walks down the stairs as the moonlight dances on her diamonds, her heels tapping with every step. At the bottom of the staircase, she walks forward, placing a hand on the door to the courtyard.

She pushes it open and finds the terrace full of glowing bluebells. She holds out her hand to pick one up, but she feels a strong gust of wind causing them to take flight around her. Caught in their beauty like a spell, she stares at them until something catches the corner of her eye. Previously hidden by the flowers, and now staring at her carrying a bouquet of roses next to a small black table was Anton.

He was wearing a white suit with a black shirt and cummerbund and a single blue rose on his lapel.

Iva stops in her tracks, staring at him in shock.

He walks forward through the floating flowers and takes her hand. He leads her toward the table, then pulls out the chair for her so she can take a seat.

Once they are both seated, Iva looks at the setup. Everything was so beautifully arranged. Every eating utensil polished to perfection.

She looks at Anton, blushing, but quickly looks back to the table when he catches her staring at him.

She hears one of the servants approach with their first course, soup.

To say it was tasty was like saying Mt. Everest is tall. Even Iva, who had sampled some of the best soups in the world widened her eyes in surprise. "This is delicious!" she says, breaking the silence.

She hears Anton sigh in relief and turns to face him.

"I'm so glad you like it," he starts. "I was worried since it's the first time you've tried my cooking."

Iva nearly drops her spoon, "You made this? Anton, you have talent!"

He smiles, "Thanks. If I wasn't a Knight, I'd have tried to open my own restaurant-." He stops when he sees Iva's sad look.

He grabs her hand, and she looks at him. "I don't regret becoming your Knight, Iva," he pauses. "I love you."

She starts to pull back, startled, but let's her hand rest in his. _That's right, I've never properly told him my feelings... _Her mind goes back to the beautiful scene he'd created for her. She looks around her. The scene was so beautiful that it looked as though it had come straight from a fairy tale or a Thomas Kinkade painting. She looks back at him, the orange glow of the candlelight dancing on her face as the flame blew in the gentle wind, "I love you too."

Anton smiles and leans forward, kissing her softly.

Ahimsa watches the two jealously from the second floor or Mew Mansion. She knew she and Shirogane were the last to become a proper couple. Over the last few years they'd become an excellent fighting team, and they knew they had something between them because the kiss let them access their angelic forms, but they had never actually become a couple.

Ahimsa continues her trip down the great East Wing hall toward the kitchen. She had gotten up in the first place to perform the same task she had all year, making food for Ryou and bringing it to the lab. She knew he wouldn't stop to eat if she didn't.

_Ryou..._ she thinks. _He still hasn't revealed his real name... _Every once in a while she'd ask him, but he always responded simply with, "Ryou's fine" or "Just call me Shirogane". _What is he hiding? _Regardless, Ahimsa knew that she had fallen in love with him.

She enters the kitchen and pulls out a bowl, a measuring cup, some onions, milk, ground round, and spices. Then, she places a pan on the stove to heat it up. As the pan heated, she prepares rice in the rice cooker.

Ahimsa sighs. She knew she shouldn't be jealous, it was her fault after all for taking so long to fall in love with him. _He made me like this after all..._ she thinks, then stops. _That's only an excuse._ She realizes as she replaces the seasoned salt in the cupboard. She'd always been slow to love or hid her feelings in the past. _It's the only way to make sure I won't get hurt..._

She ties a bow on the bento box and checks to make sure her license and keys are in her pocket. Satisfied, she heads to her car.

She remembers the time when she admitted to him she only came to find him because she needed her knight. Her heart ached every time that thought crossed her mind. Even though she knew he had seen the future up to that point, she couldn't help but imagine the knot in her chest would be gone now if she had only let herself fall in love with him back then. _What if he's already moved on?_

Ahimsa knocks twice and doesn't receive an answer, not that she was expecting one. Usually he was too engrossed in his work to answer the door.

She enters and finds his back to her, as usual, as he holds a flask over a Bunsen burner.

She says nothing as she separates each tier of the bento box. She looks around, but doesn't see Masha or Akasaka. _Those two have sense enough not to be working at 11:00pm..._ she reasons. Her attention turns back to Ryou. _But it makes me want to support him all the more..._

Eventually, Shirogane sets down his work and comes to join her. They eat in silence.

Soon, Ahimsa sets down her chopsticks. She makes a fist. Every day they sat like that. Saying nothing. Every day Ahimsa wanted to be held by him. She stares at him, sadness and longing etched in her face. He stops and looks at her, "What's wrong? You feel okay."

"No!" she starts, "I can't do this anymore! I thought I would be okay just bringing you food like this, but I can't..." her eyes well up. "I want to talk to you. I want to learn about you. I... I like you." She stands up and heads toward the door as fast as she can, leaving the bento on the table, but she never makes it. She first feels a hand on her wrist, pulling her back, then arms around her body from behind.

She could feel Ryou's rapid heartbeat resonate through her back, "I didn't want to push you, but I'd always hoped to hear those words from you. I love you, Ahimsa."

Minutes later, they were sitting atop one of the lab tables as Ahimsa lay against his shoulder, eyes closed.

"Nero," he says softly.

"Hmm?" she asks, not moving, but basking in the moment.

"My name is Nero, like the Roman emperor."

"Somehow fits you," she says, then waits a while before adding. "Thank you, Nero. For telling me your name. And for loving me."

He places his arm around her and squeezes her close.


End file.
